Growing In Small Spaces-2

People garden in a small space for a number or reasons. Good growers start many more plants than they need and choose the best to pot up and grow for fruits/flowers/seeds. Those not selected end up in the compost pile.

For others, growing in small spaces is done to maximize available space. For example, anyone can turn a 7-8 foot wall into a duplex grow area. This means you can DOUBLE YOUR GROWING AREA.  It would be easy to have a shelf with only two feet clearance for seedlings and cuttings and on the same wall a taller shelf for larger plants. For the small shelf you will need a minimum of 20-24 inches above the plant for most species. When plants start to run out of space on the small shelf you put the plants in bigger pots and move them to a 3-4 foot high shelf so they can grow bigger  before flowering/fruit set. With three feet you can grow plants in 1 gallon pots, anything bigger and you run the risk the plants won’t fit in the space. You should always experiment with bigger or smaller pots to know what is best for YOUR plants in YOUR grow area.

With any grow area the set up  starts off with the basics, clean the area very well, make the area reflective with white paint, aluminum foil, or mylar.

Fluorescent lights are well suited for growing in small spaces. They do not put out as much heat as an HID.  Also, most fluorescent lights have a Kelvin rating that emits a lot of blue light. Blue light makes plants grow shorter (less space between nodes) and bushier. If you are going to try to get flowers in a small space you can switch the bulbs to types that emit more red which tends to promote flowering.

Good growing,

Dr. E.R. Myers